JOIN USWell-known Kannada poet, critique and novelist K V Tirumalesh’s “Akshaya Kavya”, playwright and novelist Cyrus Mistry’s “Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer” and K R Meera’s “Aarachar” in Malayalam are among the works that have won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award for this year.
The two works of fiction are among the four novels and six books, each of short stories and poetry, two books each of essays, criticism and plays and one of memoirs, that have won, the literary body said on Thursday.
“The awards were recommended by distinguished jury members representing 23 Indian languages and approved by the Executive Board of the Akademi which met today (Thursday) under the chairmanship of president, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari,” Akademi’s Secretary K Sreenivasarao said.
The award comprising an engraved plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh will be presented to the writers at a function on February 16 during Festival of Letters, the annual festival of the Akademi. The award in Bengali is to be announced at a later date.
The Akademi also announced Bhasha Samman to writer and scholar Shrikant Bahulkar. Tirumalesh has bagged the award for his ambitious work “Akshaya Kavya”, which is considered as modern epic.
The announcement of the awards comes in the backdrop of 39 writers returning their awards in protest against the Akademi’s alleged silence on the murder of fellow writer and Sahitya Akademi board member M M Kalburgi as well as against the growing “communal atmosphere” following the Dadri lynching incident.
“We have received cheques by 35 authors but the Akademi has decided not to deposit the cheques to establish its refusal to accept the return of awards,” Rao said: “They are respected writers and are like the family members of the Akademi. They can never be separated from the institution and the Akademi has decided that it will not take back the awards.”
Other awardees
Brajendra Kumar Brahma (Bodo) Dhian Singh (Dogri), Ramdarash Mishra (Hindi), K V Tirumalesh (Kannada), Kshetri Rajan (Manipuri) Ram Shankar Awasthi (Sanskrit) are the awarded poets.
Short story writers awarded include Kula Saikia (Assamese), Man Mohan Jha (Maithili), Gupta Pradhan (Nepali), Bibhuti Pattanaik (Odiya), Maya Rahi (Sindhi) and Volga (Telugu).
Jaswinder Singh has been awarded for his Punjabi novel “Maat Lok” and Madhu Acharya ‘Ashawadi’ for the Rajasthani fiction “Gawaad”.
Rasik Shah (Gujarati) and A Madhavan (Tamil) have been awarded for their essays, Uday Bhembre (Konkoni), Rabilal Tudu (Santhali) for their plays, Bashir Bhadarwahi (Kashmiri) and Shamim Tariq (Urdu) have been awarded for their books on criticism while Arun Khopkar(Marathi) has received the award for his book on memoirs “Chalat-Chitravyooh.”